This invention relates to a low cost assembly for the removal and recovery of oil, grease and solid wastes found in drains or effluent discharge of restaurants, food processing, or like facilities, industrial plants, maintenance facilities, or other circumstances involving mixtures of oil, grease and solid waste material to be recovered or removed. This application has subject matter similar to the disclosure of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/161,814, filed Jun. 4, 2002, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Oil, grease and solid waste contaminant removal or recovery systems are well known in the prior art. Over the past thirty years there has been a steady move towards requiring food handling facilities to have systems for servicing kitchen grease and solid waste bearing water flows. Sewer system lines can become clogged from the oil and grease waste materials (hereinafter referred to as “oil/grease”) put into the sewer system from food handling facilities. This has led more and more sewer authorities to implement fats, oils and grease control programs. These programs regulate food handling facilities and the manner in which they process oil, grease and solid waste material. The object of many of these programs is to ensure that food handling facilities remove as much of the oil and grease as possible from the effluent flow, thereby releasing only grey water to the sewer system.
One method recognized in the prior art of accomplishing such removal is the use of a container including one or more rotating disks formed of a plastic or like applicable material to which oil and grease contaminants are attracted. Typically, the rotation of the disk is in an at least partially immersed condition, which allows the oil to cling to one or both sides of the disk so that contaminants are removed from the body of water upon rotation of the disk. Scrapers are typically used to force the oil contaminants from the opposite sides of the disk and channel such contaminants to a collection or disposal storage unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,881 to Miller et al. is representative of such oil and grease removal systems containing one or more rotating disks. The Miller et al. patent discloses an oil/grease removal assembly which removes such contaminants from the surface of the body of water and includes a rotatable disk made of plastic or other material to which such oil contaminants have an affinity so they adhere to the disk. The disk is disposed in cooperative relation to an elongated trough having scraper blades for engaging the opposite sides of the disk for the removal of the oil contaminants therefrom with the trough disposed and structured to direct such oil contaminants away from the disk and the body of water via the trough to a storage container. The disclosure of this patent, issued to B. Glenn Miller and William C. Batten and assigned to Thermaco, Inc. in Asheboro, N.C., is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The existing devices may be difficult to service and are very often permanently installed at facility sites. Because many of the parts are coated with oil and grease, servicing can be messy and time consuming. In addition, these systems tend to be expensive and represent a significant capital investment. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an apparatus for separation of oil, grease and solid waste from wastewater which is simple in design, low in cost and capable of being serviced easily in the field because of the availability of low cost replaceable parts which are easily installed and do not require extensive and costly repair.